Steve’s Blog

The month of November marks the American Holiday of Thanksgiving.  A holiday that, in theory, is about thanking God for His many blessings.  In reality very little thankfulness is expressed amidst the family dinners, football games and Christmas shopping.  Perhaps there is a prayer during the family dinner, but those who do this typically pray before a meal anyway.  Is there any dedicated effort to be thankful?  Do we take extra time to meditate on the blessings of God.  I mean we devote a whole day (if not weekend) to the holiday and rarely spend any extra time being thankful. We are   a nation that has forgotten to be thankful. 

I want to challenge YOU to 30 days of thanksgiving – not thirty days of turkey and dressing – but 30 days of dedicated time and effort to be thankful to God.  Make thanksgiving a part of your daily prayer and devotional life.  I can hear someone say right now, :I don’t have that much to be thankful for.”  When pressed people stammer out thanks for their families, for salvation, their health or their prosperity.  These are all good, but true thanksgiving causes us to go beyond the superficial to meditate on who God is, what He has done, what He is doing and what He has promised to do in the future.  Thanksgiving that focuses only on what He has done (for us in the recent past) is shallow.

In the Old Testament book of Leviticus God lined out 5 particular types of sacrifices.  One of those 5 was the sacrifice of Thanksgiving (Leviticus 7).  There are several things we need to understand about the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.

In Leviticus 22:29 we are told, “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will. On the same day it shall be eaten; you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.”

While the other sacrifices were prescribed offerings, the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving was a voluntary offering.  Thankfulness can never be forced.  You may tell a child to say thank you, but you can not make him thankful!  He may half-heartedly or even begrudgingly comply with the request, but his heart is not in it.  Such thanks is rarely satisfying.  How much more powerful when someone is genuinely grateful for a kindness done to them.

This is precisely the power of the Thanks offering.  It is a person that stops and sets the busyness of life aside for a period of time and contemplates the many blessings of God.  A person who purposes to be grateful and thankful blesses the heart of God an no doubt positions themselves for more and greater blessings inthe future.

The next thing we need to understand is that sometimes Thanksgiving can be a SACRIFICE.  It is easy to rejoice and praise God when the stuff is happening.  When life is good or prayers get answered.  The testimonies and hallelujahs flow like water.  This is good and normal.  We are told to declare the praises of God in the congregation and tell of His deeds from generation to generation.  However it is much harder to give thanks when life is not good and the prayers are not being answered (yet!).  It is during these times that thanksgiving takes on the true nature of a sacrifice. 

The very concept of sacrifice indicates a cost to the one doing the sacrifice.  For instance, in OT times a prime animal was to offered, usually a male.  This animal had significant monetary value.  To “sacrifice it to the Lord” meant the person offering it was giving that value to the Lord. 

Today we don’t bring our goats to church (thank goodness), but the concept of sacrifice is just as real.  What would it cost you to give thanks to God is the midst of trial?  Could it be we would have to sacrifice our pride?  Our agenda?  Our concept of how things ought to be and the way God ought to work?  Perhaps it is our disappointment or anger or frustration over the circumstances that need to be sacrificed.  Purposed, thoughtful Thanksgiving is a spiritual discipline that will transform your life.  You can not sacrifice any of those things mentioned above without seeing spiritual growth in your life.

The last thing we should note about the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving is that it was a type of sacrifice that came back to the offerer.  While the most of the offerings (burnt offering and sin offering) was given totally to God with no profit to priest or offerer, the majority of the Thanksgiving Offering cam back to the one making the sacrifice.  The priest performing the sacrifice got the premium cut of meat – the shoulder – for his own use.  The rest of the good meat went back to the person making the offering.  That meat was to be eaten the same day and not left over until the next day.  (This reminds us of the Passover Lamb, for those of you who want a little extra study).

The symbolism here is that this offering had immediate benefits for the offerer.  There is a powerful illustration of this principle in the New Testament.   In the NT  we find the account of Jesus cleansing 10 lepers.  He told them to go show themselves to the priest to validate their cleansing.  They all turned and walked away, except one Samaritan who returned to give Jesus thanks.  Jesus ignores the man and marvels that only 1 returned to give thanks.  He then turns to the man and declares, Go your way your faith has made you whole. 

It is easy to read past this exchange.  You need to understand that a person could be cleansed of leprosy – that is declared not contagious and capable of re-entering society, but no one was cured of leprosy, as it could return at any time.  The scars of leprosy would remain and the damage done to the body would not be repaired. The stigma of being a leper would never really go away.  When the 10 lepers ask to be clean they were not asking for total healing, they simply wanted the leprosy to go into remission – a fact verified by the priests. 

The man that returned to give thanks was made whole.  That is his skin returned to normal.  Every scar was gone.  Every trace of the disease was removed from his body.  There was no indication he had ever been a leper and in fact was never going to be a leper again.  This was the wholeness Jesus gave his in response to His faith exercised through the voluntary and purposed acts of Thanksgiving.  I call it The Wholeness of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving transforms our life.  It takes us to the wholeness of God’s blessing.  Sometimes we get what we ask for, when God wants to give us more.  In the case of the Samaritan leper his Thanksgiving opened the door for more blessings. 

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And our thanksgiving will open the door for more blessing in our lives as well.

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:15

 I want to challenge you to spend the next 30 days offering the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.  Purpose to spend time  contemplating God, His goodness, His promises and His plan for the future.  Purpose to praise and see if your life does not change int he next month.

Blessings, Steve

NOTE:  This blog is a reprint from J. Lee Grady.  I could not say it better, so I will let him speak for himself.  Jesus is not Democrat or Republican.  His kingdom isn’t even of this world.  Let’s remember that in the grand scheme of things politics is earthly and fleshly.  The battle will not be won with carnal weapons according to Paul.  Steve Highlander

God recently challenged me with the prophetic significance of 911 – the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the White House. The historical facts concerning the aftermath of 911 carry the unmistakable fingerprints of God. (If you want more info I have 40-slide PowerPoint outline of the message I am teaching on this subject – just contact me.)

I want to be quick to say that God was not the author of 911, Bin Laden was. However God was in the details of some things that happened as a result of that attack. And God manipulated some things to get America’s attention. I don’t think He got it. America responded patriotically, not spiritually. The “United We Stand” campaign went well for a few years, but now America stands more divided than ever.

There is much to say about these “fingerprints.” In fact it takes about an hour to present the information. However the real issue is not the information, it is our response – or lack thereof. 911 causes us to ask three questions: 1. Does God speak to nations? 2. If so, what is He saying to America? and 3. How will you and I respond?

A passage of scripture that gets a lot of preach time is, “If my people, who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and heal their land.”

The problem is we translate that verse, “If the liberals and the gays and the abortions rights people humble themselves and pray …and turn from their wicked ways….

To be painfully blunt, we want everyone else to do the changing. God said HIS people need to change. He gave us some pretty plain instructions to go with it.

1.  Humble themselves: I think this has to do with America’s affluence and the attitudes of consumerism, convenience and comfort that the affluence has generated in America. We are like the Laodacian Church in Revelation. We say, “we are rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing.” But God says, “you don’t know that you are poor and miserable, wretched, naked and blind.” Ouch! American Christians think they are beyond suffering. This will change if we don’t humble ourselves.
2. Pray: The greatest travesty in the America church s the lack of real prayer. Try to get a prayer meeting going and you will find quickly that people won’t come. Our religious prayers are perfunctory: Open and closing of a service and over the offering. At meal times, and when we need something. God wants us to get past the religious and self-centered prayers that make up the majority of prayer offered in America and begin prayer for the things that God is concerned about. Nothing will change in America until American Christians begin to pray about the Kingdom of God.
3. Seek My Face: This speaks of intimacy with God. It speaks of knowing God and His heart and getting in tune with His plans and purposes. Many Christians are content to know about God – but don’t really want to come into an intimate relationship with Him that radically changes their lives.
4. Turn from THEIR Wicked Ways: Ah here is the problem. American Christians simply don’t consider themselves wicked in any way shape or form. In fact most sin is totally justified in many churches today. For most American Christians this part of this verse is addressed to the “sinners of the world.” To those we disagree with politically and morally. However we can not get around the fact that this part of this scripture was also addressed to, “My People, who are called by My Name.”

God gave us the solution to the decay in America. It is not the sinners changing (initially), it is the Church changing. It is you and I who need to hear what God is saying to us and respond accordingly. When we get our act together we will have the power to change the world around us, not through politics or boycotts or pickets, but through the Holy Spirit transforming lives one by one.

Given the four clear instructions above, what needs to change in your life?

Note: I highly recommend the book The Harbinger by Johnathon Cahn concerning the prophetic significance of 911. You will be amazed at the signs God has given America through the aftermath of 911.

Tags: 911, America, prayer, repentance, Revival, Seeking God, World Trade Center

In the western church success is often promoted as a supreme goal of Christianity.  This success might take the form of business accomplishments, personal wealth, fame, a large ministry or other status symbols the world deems noteworthy.  Personal fulfillment is often the end result of the teaching and preaching.  I suggest that perhaps significance is a better indicator of the successful Christian.

The American Dream has become  integrated with the gospel message to such a degree that wealth, personal success and comfort takes precedence over faith, love, humility, servanthood, sacrifice and other virtues.

Psychology tells us that ‘significance’ is one of the seven primary psychological needs of every person.  In fact I think that when a person never has or loses hope of ever being significant it leads to a mentality of poverty, hopelessness and resignation that impacts individuals and families for generations.  Another primary psychological need is to be a part of something larger than yourself.  This explains why people join teams, clubs, and organizations. It probably is the key reason why youth join gangs.

It is interesting then that authentic Christianity (not the tainted version so often preached today) meets these key psychological needs in humanity.  And is it really surprising, since God created man, that He would create a spiritual experience that met those needs?  I think not!  The problem is the true gospel message is not being preached and an emotional, spirit-of-the-age-driven substitute has taken its place.  After all it is much easier to get someone willing to listen to a message about how they can be personally successful and blessed without much effort on their part. It is summed up in the pitch, “give a dollar and get 100 fold return on your investment.” When it is promoted this way, giving is not motivated by self-sacrifce and sincere desire to advance the kingdom, but rather self interest; which is never a good motive in God’s eyes.   If those guys really believed what they taught they would send me a dollar instead of asking me to send them one.

On the other hand significance is not necessarily self motivated.  It can be, but only when significance is defined in worldly terms like I mentioned above.  Then it becomes more of a success issue than a significance issue.

So how do we define significance?

The dictionary uses the words meaning, importance and consequence to define the word.  On the other hand success is defined as 1. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. 2. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.

You can see there is a significant difference (pun intended).  Please be assured I am not advocating failure as a means to significance.  Quite often significant people are successful (in outward terms). However successful people are not always significant in the grander scheme of things.  Significance is relative to the subject.  For instance I am a professional web developer and have helped design many successful commercial web sites.  This had significance for the clients I served, but was totally  insignificant for people without Internet access.  In fact they could care less about my accomplishments or web design success.  I trust you see the point.  Since we are discussing the Kingdom of God, the significance we are talking about must be relative to the Kingdom.  Worldly success does not automatically translate to Kingdom significance.  Does it?

Even our modern Christianity that focuses on the individual rather than the Body of Christ runs the risk of insignificance.  So what if I read my Bible, go to church, tithe and pray – the supposed hallmarks of a successful Christian - if I am not doing anything other than developing a me and Jesus attitude?  Significance directly relates to how I impact others positively – or in the case of the Kingdom of God, spiritually and eternally.

I would define Kingdom significance as impacting lives for God.  Anything less is insignificance.  For instance large organizations or ministries that define success by how big the organization is, or how much money the generate or how many programs they promote may or may not be impacting lives.  In America the welfare system is a life blood for many genuinely needy families who need help to get back on their feet.  However when the system produces an entitlement mentality or worse, traps those same families in a  cycle of poverty, it is not really helping them in a significant way.

Ministries and even individuals can fall into the same trap if they are not careful about motives and methods. Likewise churches that are primarily focused on growing the organization, while collecting more and more spectators are not necessarily being significant. To produce disciples who will go into all the world is significant.

I believe one fundamental attitude that separates success from significance is a servant’s heart.  A true servant’s heart, guided by the gospel, motivated by love and empowered by the Holy Spirit will prove to be extremely significant in the Kingdom of God.  The problem is that the allure of self fulfillment has to be broken and a humility to serve cultivated in its place.

Christianity offers to meet three of the deepest needs of mankind: The need for value, significance and belonging. Through genuine spiritual connection (fellowship/sharing together - GR: Koinonia) with the Body of Christ we find all three fulfilled. Through this connection I understand I have value apart from my performance, but by virtue of God’s unconditional love for me.  I discover a sense of belonging to a local and world-wide family of believers that is rich and diverse.  I can contribute my time, resources and abilities to something bigger than myself and this world.  I can tap into the spiritual realm.  I can change lives, not for a day, a year or a lifetime, but for eternity.   This is true significance and it is success in the purest sense of the word, because it is everlasting success, not temporal success. Jesus said the world and everything in it is passing away.  Worldly success is, at best,  fleeting compared to eternity.

Albert Einstien said, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”  I think Al understood the issue of significance.

I want to encourage you to shift your thinking from worldly success to Kingdom significance in whatever area you see there is a need.

May God richly bless your journey to significance.

Steve

Have you ever been lost in a mall or a zoo or some other large public area?  You’re not sure which direction to go to get to where you want to be. After wandering around a bit you find a kiosk with an area map with a big red star that proclaims “YOU ARE HERE!”  What a relief to pinpoint your current location in relationship to where you want to go and to have a sense of how to get there from where you are at.

Our spiritual lives can occasionally be just like that.  We get lost in our circumstances and are not sure which way to go. While we are not lost in the sense of going to hell, we are lost in our life issues.  We’re lost in regards to where we are right now in relation to where we want to be.  The truth is if you don’t know where you are at currently it is even harder to get to where you want to be.

Fortunately the Bible tells us, “Jesus came to seek and save the lost.”  Keep in mind we are not just talking about the lost who are going to hell.  We need to elevate that scripture some.  There are times Christians are lost in their life issues and don’t know which way to to go.  They need “saving” on a different level.  Jesus is still the rescuer.

Enter the big red star – “YOU ARE HERE!”

While you might not know what is going on in your life right now, be assured God does know.  “YOU ARE HERE!”  Right at this point in your life, and God, with His bird’s eye view of the big picture can see where you are in relation to where you need to be.  You may have gotten here by accident, or by divine providence, or by purposed rebellion, but be assured “YOU ARE HERE”; and knowing where you are at is the first step to get to where you want to be.

It doesn’t make any difference how you got HERE; understanding where you are at is the key.  God can help you understand this.  The first thing you need to do is realize that God is with you where ever your are.  King David came to this realization and spoke of it in Psalms 139:7-12:

“I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.  I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.”

Where are you right now?  YOU ARE HERE! Where God can minister to you.  Where He can know you; strengthen you; guide you.  YOU ARE HERE where you can not hide from God.  You are in a good place, because God is getting ready to work in your life, if you will let Him.

Now that you know where you are at, you can concentrate on where you want to go.  At this point you may need to deal with why you are where you are at.  If you are here by accident or rebellion then some repentance is necessary.  Repentance has taken on an unbiblical, religious definition over the past 1700 years.  Literally “repent” means to change your mind, or to think differently.  It does not necessarily mean to promise never to sin again or even to make an effort to stop sinning,  It has to do with the way you think. John and Jesus both told people to”repent and believe the good news (gospel).”  In other words they said, “rethink this thing.  Change your mid about how and what you believe.  Look at life differently. Then believe what God says abut the way things are.”

Spiritual neglect or rebellion requires repentance – to think about life and God in a different way than you have up to this point.  The old way of thinking got you here.  It will not get out out of here.

Perhaps YOU ARE HERE as part of the divine plan for your life.  Not every place of “lostness” is because of sin, mistakes or apathy.  God often led His most trusted and chosen servants through times of darkness and confusion as part of the plan.  Noah, spent 100 years obeying God without ever seeing a drop of rain.  Abraham spent a night in a terrible darkness before God entered into covenant with him.  Joseph, righteous as he was, ended up in prison for several years before he became prime minister of Egypt. David had to hide in a cave and came to the point one day he said, “Now I know for sure Saul will certainly kill me one day.”  All this after he had been anointed King of Israel, but before he ascended the throne.  Need I go on?  YOU ARE HERE!  Right where God wants and needs you to be before he can take you to the next level in His plan for you.

YOU ARE HERE! At this point and this place in your life.  The way for you is up.  It matters not if you are on the bottom rung or the next to  the top rung of God’s plan for your life.  Thank God that you have made it to the sign post and can get your bearings.  Ask God for wisdom on where to go from HERE and how to get there from HERE.  He will answer.  James tells us, “if any person lacks wisdom (knowing what to do) let him ask of God and God will answer him abundantly without rebuke.” (My paraphrase.)

Be blessed! Let me know when you get to where you are going.

I don’t nornally repost blog articles, but this one is so good and exactly what I would say myself, if J Lee Grady hadn’t written it frist (Lee I am jealous you beat me to it.)  I trust God will encourage your heart.  This is exactly what the Second reformation is all about.

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There is a new doctrine in the wind today. Well,  not really new in the strictest sense of the word, but new in the sense that it is resurfacing and rapidly gaining ground in numerous circles.  It is the doctrine of sanctification.  But not as you normally think of it.  What is being preached today is not the sanctification of the sinner, but rather the sanctification of sin.

By definition the term “sanctify” means to “make holy.”  In practical application it means to be set apart for specific or limited use.

A theology called Universalism is making great headway in the church today and, while they would not come right out and say it, they are preaching the sanctification of sin.  Oh not in so many words, but certainly in effect.  Universalism finds a number of different expressions and it would be tough and wrong  to pigeonhole everyone into one category.  But let’s look at some of what is being taught.

The liberal branch of the church simply appeals to God’s forgiveness of sin as if forgiveness means the same thing as condoning.  These thoughts especially applies to sexuality and immorality.  People in this camp simply sanctify sin by the act of forgiveness.  It sounds like this, “Oh, God loves us and forgives us so it is alright to continue our sinful lifestyle because, after all, we are forgiven.” 

Since when did forgiveness equate to sanction?  Let’s look at it this way.  If I borrowed $500 from you and didn’t pay it back you might forgive me, but I am pretty sure you wouldn’t say, “yeah that’s okay, do it again.”  People who follow this line of thought forget a few things. 

First if you needed forgiveness in the first place  you already acknowledge that what you were doing was wrong. Right?  If not then there is no need for forgiveness and the silly argument that “after all Jesus forgives me,” is a moot point.  So by claiming forgiveness they are also admitting guilt.

Second is the fact that Jesus (the guy everyone wants to quote as so loving  and forgiving) said to a woman caught in adultery, “go and sin no more.”  Yes He did forgive her, but He did not sanction her sin.  He absolved her of guilt and mitigated the punishment that she should have gotten (death by stoning – not to mention hell), but there is no indication that she could continue in adultery and be okay.  Jesus indicates the opposite.  The bottom line is that forgiveness does not justify sin, only the sinner.

Another theological position is gaining acceptance today also – to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of souls.  This is the minimizing of sin.  It sounds like this: “Sin isn’t that big of a deal, after all Jesus died on the cross.  We need to stop causing strife, division and political turmoil by being critical and judgmental and just emphasize what Jesus emphasized – love one another.  After all when you say someone is sinning it is not very loving.”

This group misses the point altogether.  Oftenthis attitude  is in reaction to “Christians” (and I use the term loosely) who are critical, condemning and judgmental.  Shame on those folks.  However, because there are legalistic religious folk who really don’t understand the nature of God and the Holy Spirit does not mean that you can simply do away with loving reproof.  A parent who tells their kid not to play in the street isn’t considered a bad parent (well maybe today with the lunacy that exists in the child welfare system – but that is beside the point.) The point is that not to warn someone who is doing something that could bring serious harm to their body, soul and spirit is the worst form of neglect. 

Why do the police have D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness and Resistance) Programs?  Why does MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have nationwide backing?  Are not these socially acceptable programs telling people they some things are wrong and dangerous and that people don’t need to be doing them?  It is okay as long as you don’t add a moral (read that God) aspect to them.  They are social ills, not moral issues.  Once you call it a moral issue you step into the religious realm and the whole thing changes.  Someone once joked that there should be a group called DAMM (Drunks Against Mad Mothers).   No doubt a bunch of folks would join.

I know people who do not want to hear that their drug or alcohol or gambling issue  is causing problems for  them and  their families.   They get angry when confronted by people who care and want to help.  Psychologically we call this denial.  Is it any different when a concerned Christian tells someone their sin could cause eternal problems for them – not just temporal ones?  Is the world not in denial, Refusing to admit what others see?

Another, newer version of the sanctification of sin is to really deny it all together.  I got a blog article a couple of weeks ago from a man I consider a friend.  He’s started down the slippery slope of  Universalism.  He made the comment that our problem is not a fallen nature (that man did not fall into sin and is therefore basically corrupt and in need of forgiveness) but rather a religious lie we’ve been told (you have a fallen nature and must repent) that keeps us from seeing that we were created in God’s image and are therefore right with God.

In this point of view all the talk about sin is hindering men from recognizing who they really are.  So it doesn’t really matter who or what you are or do.  We just need to realize that we were created in God’s image.  If this is true why did Jesus die?  If there was no fall and man has no sin nature he needs no savior.

And finally, the attack on truth is coming in the form of a minimizing of hell.  Since hell is considered the ultimate punishment for sin, then to minimize it is to minimize sin.  The only way to make light of hell is to make light of sin.  This line of reasoning seeks to minimize judgment and/or recompense.  This group seems to think God is bi-polar.  They have a hard time accepting His full, true nature as perfectly loving and perfectly righteous.  One part of the church only emphasizes His righteous nature and tends to judgment and punishment, using threats of damnation to bring people to Jesus and keep them in line.  The other (and equally wrong) extreme is to over emphasize God’s loving nature to the point of overriding His righteousness.  God is loving, but He is still righteous and all the love in the world won’t change that. 

The tension between the righteous nature and the loving nature of God is what makes God the God of the Bible. Can you imaging a loving God without righteousness.  Or worse, a righteous God without love?  His complete nature causes Him to reach out and offer forgiveness to mankind.  Most civilized societies are based on the 10 commandments.  American law certainly is.  Or have we forgotten it is illegal to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc.?  People who want to do away with righteousness do not want to do away with laws that protect society.  The same Bible that said “don’t steal and kill” also said, “don’t commit adultery.”  We accept and even expect justice to be served in civil matters.  While a person may oppose the death penalty, I am sure that same person would not want a serial killer or rapist on the street.  Justice and punishment of some kind must exist in civil affairs.  Why is it so hard to believe that the God of all the universe may require a just and righteous accounting of sin?

The good news is that God does justify sinners through faith in Christ.  But he does not just forgive them and leave them to continue to struggle with sin.  The gospel was not just the forgiveness of sin, but the power over sin through the Holy Spirit.  The sanctification of the sinner starts with salvation, delivering us from the  penalty of sin – giving us imputed righteousness, so God can work in our lives.  It continues throughout our lives delivering us from the power of sin – giving us experiencial righteousness so we can experience the presence of God.  In its final manifestation it delivers us from the very presence of sin by bringing us to the “new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.”

There is a big difference between the sanctification of the sinner and the sanctification of sin.  I revert to Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.”

The thematic verse for this blog is in Jude, “Earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”  As I look around today I see a serious onslaught of religious deception. 

Jesus told us this would happen.  In Matthew 24 He said three times not to be deceived; and that if it were possible even the truly elect would be deceived.  Paul, Peter, Jude, John and James also warned us of perilous times and great deception in the last days.  In II ThessaloniansGod even says He will send “strong delusion” on the world and those that “would not receive the love of the truth.  Perhaps it is time we take these warnings seriously and examine what’s happening in the church today?

I find the attacks coming in the form of “Isms.”  Things like tribalism, liberalism,  legalism, fundamentalism, modernism, secularism, universalism and political-ism (okay I had to push this one a bit to get the Ism in, but it is a serious threat that needs to be discussed.)

Tribalism is the “us verses them” mentality.  The “our tribe verses your tribe” mindset. It chops the Body of Christ up and supports disunity.  It is most commonly seen as denominationalism.  As church membership declines in most denominations this tribalism can become a real stumbling block to the unity of the Body of Christ.  Churches need to work together to reach their communities for Christ.  Unfortunately accomplishing anything spiritual is often difficult because of so many disagreements on how a joint service or event might be handled.  Things like the type of worship, or the way the gospel is presented or the type of altar call.  Trying to get several churches to work together within the framework of their pet ideas is tough.  The world suffers because of this.

Modernism:  I see a serious attack today against the authority of the Bible.  This attack is coming in several ways. The most prominent is the “bible contains the word of God but is not the world of God” theology.  This means that man wrote it and therefore it simply has no authority.  Glean the good stuff and don’t worry about the negative.  However a more subtle and increasingly popular idea to reframe the Bible in an way that makes Biblical writers present God according to their own superstitious world view.  The Old Testament writers were tribal and they had tribal deities that watched over their particular worshippers.  The Israelites tribal god was Jehovah – no different from the Canaanites tribal gods like Moloch, Baal and others.  Of course at the time of Christ paganism abounded with firm belief in what we today call mythology.  Relatively few pagans exist today that still worship Zeus, Ares and the other “titans”.  However liberal thinkers point to the fact that all deities of the day interacted with humans and produced half-god, half-human offspring.  So, they say, Jesus is no different, just another myth that hung on long after the others fell pray to modernism.  Modern people, they say, no longer believe the old fairy tails and archaic religion of a mean God with a half-human son.   Jesus was about love, not judgement so let’s just forget all the “righteousness stuff” and accept anything that makes others happy.

Liberalism promotes a Christianity without the Spirit or the power of God.  It is a humanistic approach to God well grounded in social concerns and good will toward all man kind.  The danger of course is that we don’t really need to be saved and filled with the Spirit.  The supernatural aspect of God is not only downplayed, but denied.  Paul warned young pastor Timothy about those who ”having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away.”  II Timothy 3:5.  The world godliness means a religious attitude and character, while the word power is dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite.  It is the power to move things.  Liberalism wants the things of God in a nice tidy doable package that does not require God.

Fundamentalism is religious zeal that tries to force itself on others.  The fundamentalist says, “I am right and everyone is is wrong and are damned for it.  There are all kinds of fundamentalists.  Islamic fundamentalism can often result in terrorism.  Christian fundamentalism results in trying to force a Christian worldview on the nation through political means.  Fundamentalism does not represent everyone in the particular faith, although they are often the most vocal and get the most attention.  Not all Muslims are fundamentalist terrorists.  Not all Christians are fundamentalist right wing, politically oriented believers.  Fundamentalism hurts the true message of God by focusing on secondary issues of abortion or gay rights.  Please do think I think either of those things are right – I don’t; it is just that to battle on those issues, without discretion and compassion thus  alienating people from the real message of Christ is to miss the point of the gospel.  What if we save a baby and both mother and baby go to hell?  What have we accomplished?)  We will never force people to believe or be moral through subjection.

Secularism simply wants to force God out of everyday life and into the home or church where it belongs – according to them.  We see this in our schools and now governments.  Secularism puts the pressure on people to keep religion private and out of the public eye.  It is anti-evangelism.

Universalism is on the fast track again.  Popular books like The Shack and other influential writers are promoting a theology called Universalism.  Universalism, in a nut shell, basically says Jesus died for everyone so in the end everyone will be saved.  The extreme brand of Universalism, Ultimate Reconciliation, teaches that even satan will be reconciled to God in the end.  Universalism’s appeal is that it  on God’s love for everyone.  After all who doesn’t want a loving God?  Forgiveness comes without repentance and the Christian relationship without discipline or character.  After all if we all make it int he end why bother living a Christian life?  This doctrine is more insidious than it seems and is affecting many people today – even if they do not know it by its theological name.

Political-ism seeks to enforce a certain religious viewpoint through political power, be it in the church or secular government.  Good old modern fundamentalists cringe in fear when they hear a news story about Islamic fundamentalists wanting to force a country and all of its people to adopt Islamic religious law as the law of the land.  Yet they will do the exact same thing in America.   It is the idea that America is like Old Testament Israel and if we can just make enough Christian laws God will bless us.  The problem is that there are no Christian nations** – only Christian people.  If America was birthed with Christianity it was because she had Christians, not Christian laws.  The old cliche is that you can not legislate morality.  This is true.  We would be much better off going door to door handing out gospel tracts than pamphlets for our favorite political candidate.  When will the church learn that political power will not save a soul.  Yet if we save a soul we will probably get that person to follow in the moral lifestyle we promoted in the first place. 

The Church- read that individual Christians – will have t deal with these issues more and more   coming days.  If there ever Was a time to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints,” it is today.

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Addendum

**I find it interesting that so many Christians want to call America  Christian nation when in fact the things that have historically defined us have been anything but Christian:

1. From the 1600′s through 1865 we were a nation built upon the backs of forced slave labor.  In 1865 the official census numbered 7 million slaves.
2. Through the mid to late 1800′s the US government lied to and broken every treaty we made with Native Americans, stealing their lands and forcing them onto reservations.  The result was poverty, alcoholism, and abuse.  Our Christian government’s solution: Give them gambling casinos.
3. The 1920′s were know as the “Roaring Twenties” when liberalism, alcohol, modernism and immorality flourished after having been keep somewhat in check for some time.   The 18th Amendment outlawing alcohol was ratified in 1919.  This lead to wide spread organized crime and general civil disobedience as most Americans ignored the law.  Prohibition has the distinction of being the only constitutional amendment to ever be repealed  This era in American History lead to the depression of the 30′s. 
4. The 1950′s were years marked by growing  materialism, so much so that the younger generation rebelled in the late 50′s and through the 60s.
5. Don’t forget that Christian America existed for over 140 years before women could vote or hold office.  It was nearly200 years before we stepped up to the plate with basic civil rights for blacks.
6. The 1960s was earmarked by the 1968 “Summer of love”, when rebellion, sexual freedom and drug use reached a crescendo. 
7. Abortion was legalized in 1973 and through 2008 50,000,000 legal abortions took place.  You can add several more million in the last 3 years. Today
8. Today millions of Americans are suffering from mental illnesses, addictions to illegal drugs, pharmaceuticals, nicotine and alcohol.  Divorce is at a all time high and second and third marriages are the norm.  Our materialism, resulting in a misuse of credit has brought our nation to a brink of economic collapse.

While America has always had a Christian face, and is still the best nation in the world for freedom and opportunity she has rarely, as a nation, been characterized by Christian conduct.

Tags: fundamentalism, liberalism, modernism, tribalism, universalism

If the United States has produced anything it has produced a generation of individuals who are bent on personalization.  Individuality (literally personalization)  is the battle cry of the modern American.  “Tricked out” or “pimped” is the official slang for it today.

From the time we were little we personalized our stuff.  I remember “tricking out” my old used bicycle when I was 8 or 9.  I bought a horn, a flag, a mirror, and spoke covers.  Later it was my first car with pinstripes, stereo (8 track folks – my first car stereo was an 8 track), CB radio (with a “handle” or call sign – mine was The Golden Eagle.), etc. Today it is not enough to have a phone or a computer, you have to be able to customize it to fit your personality and lifestyle.  Brooke just bought an iPad and it is custom engraved with your own personalized quotation on the front.

You can buy a three pack of different colored covers for your cell phone .  And, don’t even get me started on ring tones.  Every single person has a ringtone that screams, “I am unique and this ringtone tells the whole world (at least those unfortunae enough to be within listening range), “this is who I am.”  Customization on our computers are nearly infinite with wallpapers, backgrounds, color themes, screen savers, etc.  All this serves to feed the individuality beast residing in each of us.

I am wondering if our lust for individuality (personalization) is always such a good thing.  There are some things we can personalize that don’t matter and there are other things we should be careful about personalizing. 

While God is a “personal God,” I think we often take the idea of personalizing our Christianity to suit our own needs, temperament and personality (not to mention lifestyle and time obligations) a bit too far at times.  This results in a Christianity that stops working the way it should.  Too often we are too busy to notice until a crisis takes place and we need it to work.

We’ve all had devices that quit working properly—phones,  computers, DVD players, etc.  Most of these items come with a reset button or a “restore default” setting.  On occasion, after too much personalization, we need to hit the reset button to get us back to the starting point where things worked correctly again.  

I think the same thing needs to happen spiritually at times.  We go through our Christian lives doing this and that.  Tweaking and learning and doing and believing this doctrine or that principle.  Then all of a sudden we are startled to discover our lives really are not working the way we want them too.  Relationships are messed up.  Prayers don’t get answered.  Our church life is unfulfilling.  Fill in the blank!

Oh, we’re busy for sure.   We go to church, pray, read our bible and basically do the stuff, but there is something missing.  It is time to hit the spiritual reset button.

Americans customize their Christianity with a their favorite Bible version, their favorite teachers or teaching, and their “brand” of church.  We get involved in ministries that interest us. We give our money when and where it pleases us. We go to the meetings that best suit us and pick the programs that are most convenient.  We tend to personalize our Christian lives to meet our own needs and desires, not those of God or the others around us.

Without a doubt many, many Christians are faced with the need to hit the reset button on their faith and get back to some basics that work.

In II Corinthians 11:3 Paul shares this concern about the Corinthian believers, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

He shares this same concen with the Galatians church, so it must be a legitimate point of struggle for Christians.  ”I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel…”  Gal 1:6

In all of our complicated personalization we sometimes mess the thing up to the point where it doesn’t work right anymore.  This is true of electronics and spirituality.

Perhaps you are wondering just what I mean by “hitting the spiritual reset button?” Or maybe you realize that I have just described you and you’re wondering how to do it.

Activity is not a substitute for relationship in God’s Kingdom.  God is still God, Lord and Master and Jesus is still the reason, not just for the season, but for everything.  Hitting the spiritual reset button means getting back to real relationship with Christ through prayer and the word.  It means putting God back at the center of our lives.  It may mean less activity and more silence, for a season.  Less glory and more humility for a time.  For many, it may means getting back to spiritual basics and reestablishing some fundamental spiritual principles  in their lives.

There is one problem with hitting  the reset button though.  We often lose many of the “personalized settings” we have grown to cherish.  The “default setting” on most devices is not as glamorous or exciting or flashy; and it may look a lot like everyone else’s—but it works!

A few months ago I had to hit the spiritual reset button in my life.  I had to stop doing some of the ministry things I loved and frankly were fruitful for the kingdom of God.  Lives were being touched and changed by the Spirit of God and it was hard to lay those things down.  Honestly, sometimes I still feel a bit guilty that I am doing less.  However it was absolutely necessary for me to step back, because it was not producing good things in my life. 

I highly recommend the occassional reset.  I have discovered both in my life and in observing those around me, theat if we don’t voluntarily hit the reset button on occassion, life tends to do it for us.  At least when we do it we are understanding a little of the process, instead of wondering why we are left with a spiritual crash and not knowing what to do about it.

Do you needs to hit the reset button in some area of your life?

Perhaps the photo below has some wisdom beyond the gender issue????

Tags: Revival, Spiritual Renewal

I have the unique ability to find spiritual  inspiration in the oddest places. Last week I bought a pair of Docker khakis.  The words “One Leg at a Time” was printed on the inside waistband.  And here for over 50 years I have struggled every morning to “jump” into my pants.

Of course it was a reference to the cliche that no matter how tough a guy is he still has to put his pants on one leg at a time.  The saying reminds us that we all suffer a common malady called “humanness.” It accentuates the reality that, regardless of our diverse cultures, life experiences, strength, educational status and personal goals, there is still something that unites us all in our humanity, our oneness and our limitations.

I bet you didn’t know that you could get all of that   pair of Khakis ($65 on sale for $12.  Revelation and savings – God is good.)

It is really time that Christians looked at this issue of our common humanity more seriously.  We are quick to use the scripture, “you are fearfully and wonderfully made,” in context of the struggle against abortion.  Is that scripture equally valid for Muslims, Communists, gays, blacks, North Koreans and the maraid of “others” who are different from us, or is it just unborn babies and Christians that God has made in His own image?

Unfortunately a common struggle of our common humanity is dualism.  The “us” verses “them” syndrome.  It is promoted in school spirit.  Remember the pep rallies and games where the other town and team were our enemies because we lived 20 miles apart?    That dualism progressed as we got older.  No matter which side you were on you were an “us” or a “them.”  Democrats and the Republicans.  Americans and the pinko commie Russians.   Whites and blacks or Hispanic, labor or management.

Dualism exists in many forms.  Today it is surfacing as Christians and Muslims.  The church needs to be careful about this.  It is this dualism that fueled the ill-conceived crusades.  The crusades were not ordained by God.  It was religious people worshipping a doctrine of dualism, not spiritually mature Christians, that came up with the idea of the crusades.

This is not to say that some things are not wrong.  I don’t believe in abortion or the gay lifestyle.  I don’t think the Muslim religion is correct in its understanding or approach to God.  However that does not give me the right to fall into the human trap of dualism – us verses them.  This IS NOT the Spirit of God.

One day the disciples told Jesus they saw a guy casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  The forbid him because “he wasn’t one of our group.”  How often we do this?  They don’t worship like we do, or have the same doctrine.  They are not one of our group so we can’t let them do any thing for God.  Today we would call the this denominationalism and we promote it as spiritual stuff.

We again see this dualism is a more drastic form among the discipes  when Jesus was headed to Jerusalem at the end of His ministry.  As they passed through Samaria the people did not receive Jesus.  James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven to consume the “others”.  Those folks that were just not getting it and not receiving Jesus like the disciples thought they should.  They were offended for Jesus’ sake and, by golly, they were gonna do something about it. Jesus rebuked them saying, “You do not know what Spirit you are of.”  Do we know what spirit we are of today?

Of course this dualism is often fueled by a misunderstanding of the nature of the the Old Testament.  The ultimate dualism was the Israelites attitude “we are God’s chosen people and every one else is not.”  That attitude has been picked up by the religionists trying to make the New Testament work like the Old Testament.  It does not work that way and will not work that way.  While it is true that some are saved and some are not – the issue is the attitude of the saved towards the lost.

When it comes to our need of a savior we all “put our pants on one leg at a time.”  We are all in need of the same thing.  Paul once reminded the Gentiles believers that they used to the the “others,” but were now included.  Perhaps the church needs to learn to offer the same grace to the “others” we find that are not like us.  I leave you with a scripture to meditate on – seriously.  Can you find dualism in this passage?  Or do you find a “one leg at a time” commonality?

“In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”  Ephesians 2:11-21

I’m glad God didn’t count me as a “them!” 

Aldactone